Healing You, Heals Me
by wand'rest-wizard
Summary: He almost died but he's not the only one who got hurt. They managed to save him, but healing will take time- for him and everyone around him.


**This is my first fic, English is my second language. Looking for a Beta Reader, let me know if you're interested :) **

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN MARVEL OR ANYTHING RELATED TO IT..this work is purely fictional, bla, bla, bla. Etc, Etc.**

**Author's note: This is basically my way of coping with the end of Endgame. Canon Divergence AU - where Tony Stark lives. **

* * *

As soon as they passed through the automatic doors, they were greeted by a group of doctors and nurses. They took over pushing the stretcher forwards through the white sterile corridor. Since they were already notified beforehand of the situation, they worked efficiently even while on the move, hooking monitors, shouting instructions and exchanging statuses. As they reached another set of automatic doors, this one with "STAFF ONLY" written on the top portion, the medical team went through quickly while one of the nurses turned to the group.

"I'm sorry but you are not allowed beyond this door," she said firmly with both hands up, halting them from following the stretcher. She looked at the rather odd bunch of people gathered in front of her. From the little info she had gathered before they arrived, she understood that they were in a very major battle. The one that brought everybody back.

"You can wait in there," she pointed to a plain wooden door, "and I will have some nurses attend to your injuries."

Before she even finished, a man in full body armor interrupted, "Please! We don't care about us! You have to let us go with him! "

_Iron Patriot. Or is it War Machine? _"Sir, I assure you, the doctors here will do everything they can-"

Everyone started to speak at the same time.

"Please save him."

"Just let us through!"

"No! We have to see him! PLEASE!" She turned towards the pleading voice.

The voice belonged to a boy. He looked no older than 18. 17? There was dried blood under his nose, his eye red-rimmed, and there were tear streaks down his cheeks. He looked so innocent and young.

_How young do they recruit these people? _She pushed all thoughts aside. "I am sorry," she said loudly, making them quiet, "but you need to stay here." Her tone was hard yet had a gentle note underneath. She had dealt with similar situations before, although this is the first time she had handled a group of superheroes.

The group stared to protest again before a young woman with braids stepped forward.

"I will go with you," She said confidently.

The nurse only blinked before giving a slight bow, "Of course, princess." That seemed to placate them. "This way, your highness," she started turning to the doors which promptly opened when she came near.

The princess faced the group. Not wanting to give them false hope, she said, "Have faith. I will keep you updated." She can promise that at least. She quickly turned and followed the nurse but not before hearing a soft response from someone in the group.

"Thank you, Shuri."

* * *

With a final flourish, Pepper finished signing the last document for the day. She sighed as she capped her pen. Turning around in her chair, she faced the floor-to-ceiling window, taking in the sights of the city. The god awful knot in her neck was making itself known, so she did some slow stretches. Pepper let out another long sigh as she bent forward, resting her elbows on her knees so that she could rub her eyes.

Being CEO of Stark Industries is tough work, even more so now. The Blip, as people were calling it, has thrown everything back into chaos, upsetting the company, again. The board and she had somehow managed to stabilize it after the Snap, and now, they were going through it all over again. It will work out eventually, she knows it will. It's just going to take some time.

That's what she keeps repeating in her head. _Just give it time. It will work out. Time heals all wounds._

Her thoughts were interrupted by the building's AI, "Ma'am, Peter Parker is calling."

The clock on the wall showed her that it was four in the afternoon. "Patch him through please FRIDAY."

A second later, Peter voiced came in, "Hey, Pepper! How's it going?"

Pepper smiled. "I'm good. Just finished work stuff. How was school?"

"Not too bad. I managed to hand in my English paper on time. Thanks to you, I just might still be able to get an A."

She answered with an amused snort. "You know you could've handed it in earlier and done a better job if you started sooner."

The rest of the conversation revolved around the usual things. How was Aunt May? Any upcoming school competitions? Patrol alright? And from his end, Peter usually asked if there were any projects he could join in at SI, status of current projects that he was involved in, weekend plans. It was a ritual they did every day, or at least every other day. Neither will admit it, but the phone calls were what kept them from falling apart.

After all of the small talk and questions, the teen will always go quiet for a few seconds. And Pepper will take this time to compose herself. She heard him take a breath before the inevitable question, "Any news?"

The CEO bit her lip and squeezed her eyes tight to stop the tears from forming. Even though Peter can't see her, she shook her head before replying softly, "No, honey. No changes yet."

No changes during the time between today's call and yesterday's. Or between now and last month. Or the month before that. There hasn't been any changes for the past six months.

A tiny sniff from Peter brought her back to focus. "He'll wake up soon, Pepper. He will. It's gonna take some time." Time. Yup, that's their mantra and motto alright.

His innocence and unmovable faith always had the power to restore hers. "Of course he will." One of her usual replies. Any more than that is too hard.

The conversation shifted to plans for the weekend and Peter's upcoming Decathlon. They usually try to lengthen these phone calls. Both of them knowing that the conversations kept them connected, kept them going. But all too soon, Peter had to say goodbye as he was going for patrol. With a final reminder to be careful from her, the call ended.

She swiveled back around to look at the monitor on her desk. The minimized window on the bottom right corner was showing a video of what looked like a hospital room. There, in the middle of the room, on the bed was Tony Stark. Her husband, her love- the universe's savior.


End file.
